Notes / Commercial Description:
Sierra Nevada Stout s a full-bodied American version of the traditional black ale. It is perfectly balanced with big roasted malt flavors and earthy, whole-cone hops.

In 1980, when we were building our fledging brewery, we needed a beer with bold flavors to test the new, hand-built brewhouse. That first brew was a stout rich with roasted malts and earthy, whole-cone American hops. We liked that original stout so much that we've kept it as we've grown. Decades later it still reminds us of that early pioneering spirit.

The original Sierra Nevada! As the label states this is the drop that began the now monolithic SN, it’s hard to imagine what the beer world was like without Sierra Nevada... a hell of a lot blander for one... but there was a time not so long ago when beer meant something shit like Foster’s or VB. Like waking up from a bad dream the world has progressed to our current state of beer nirvana: Beervana - now you really can get almost any crazy combination of ingredients ready-fermented in a glass bottle for your enjoyment. So what does this 30 year old recipe have to offer us today? Something easy and agreeable one would hope.

S: Roasted toasty grains and chocolate notes along with hints of dark fruits and light smoky aromas. Quite a moreish nose here - though it could, for 5.8% ABV, use a little more heft - not complaining, just noting. 7/10.

T: Classic Sierra Nevada - it doesn’t jump out and shout “Look at me! I’m a beer!” in some sort of weird stein-related costume that gets the wearer arrested for public indecency “Is that a small tap handle coming out of the stein? No, wait!” - it just quietly turns up the dial, not to 11 (this is beer not Spinal Tap) but to something like 8. Compared to the last American Stout I reviewed (Newstead The Outpost) this seminal American Stout is hardly hop-happy, it focuses primarily on roasted malts and the above noted flavours - it doesn’t veer off course. Tasty, tasty malts! 8/10.

M: Medium bodied with a nice light but dense carbonation. 9/10.

D: As stated in my preamble what can Sierra Nevada Stout offer todays’ drinkers? Something easy and agreeable. This brew is exactly that: Easy and agreeable. I’m sure back in the day of bland tastes (30 years ago) drinking this would have been akin to releasing a firestorm on your tastebuds, however today we have so many bolder beers out there. What Sierra Nevada does again is create a respectable base-line standard of a brew in this American Stout that we can all drink after our tongues have been lashed by hearty Russian Imperial Stouts and the like - here’s my cheers to Sierra Nevada for giving us a damn fine regular American Stout on which we can rest our weary taste-buds, cheers! 9/10.

It pours a medium to dark brown yielding a jet black body with a two inch foamy tan head. The body is too dark for any carbonation to be seen. The head must last at least a good three and a half minutes even after I took several sips. There is some nice foamy rings left. The smell has a nice combination between chocolate and coffee with some added hops. The taste is robust and bold with the previously mentioned smells coming through with an added maltiness. The palate is about a medium and there is nothing harsh on the tongue. It has a decent drinkability. Overall, I would say this is a solid American Stout that I would have again.

A : Deep chocolate brown, 100% opaque, with a giant and porous head, beige in color. Leaves lacing in beautiful rings all the way down as it recedes.

S : Lacking. Very weak. At least until the head recedes. A bit of cocoa powder in the aroma, chocolate shavings, maybe some roast malts. A chocolate covered cone of hop comes out too.

T : Very traditional in its take on a black ale, rather than an Americanized stout...it’s less robust, instead choosing to be more subtle with its flavor profile. On it is ground mild coffee, some hop leaf, and burnt malts. It’s not chocolatey, it’s not big, it’s not packed. It’s easy drinking though, and is made up of roast coffee and hop flavors. On the finish is a charred coney hop flavor.

F : Very dense and creamy, first thing I noticed. The carbonation is mild but capable, and ends with a slight dry bite.

O : It’s okay. Many better stouts out there, but this is a no-frills, easy drinking, by-the-book black ale.

Black with ruby highlights, capped by a light milk chocolate brown crown. The foam is softly pitting and eventually deflates to a thick disk, leaving rings of lace. The aroma is of charred black malt (with more chocolate than coffee) and a snippet of hops.

Wow, is this a chocolate stout? It's more chocolate-like than many chocolate stouts that I've had. It tastes like melted Hershey's kisses were added before bottling. That's a good thing. SNS favors the sweeter side of its personality, which only makes the chocolate comparison that much more vivid.

Hops are present in the background, but don't intrude. The family resemblance to Sierra Nevada Porter is obvious. The finish is long, nicely roasty, chocolate-like and hoppy. The mouthfeel isn't quite as full as I'd like, but it's pretty good all the same.

Sierra Nevada Stout is another solid effort from this brewery. It really should be labeled as a chocolate stout since it most certainly tastes like one. I'm thrilled that it's available locally.

This beer pours a solid black with mocha colored sediment suspended in and lying on the bottom of the glass. There is a two finger head which dissipates into a nice collar and heavy lacing.

The smell is full of hops, chocolate, roasted malts and bitter coffee.

The taste follows the nose with the hops forward, backed up quickly by the roasted malts, bitter coffee, chocolate then finishing with more hops. The hop finish is only slightly dry. Some booze leaks through but not much. The feel is thick and bready. This is an American Stout that smells and tastes like an Imperial. Let this one warm up a bit before drinking and you will be rewarded with a better range of smells and flavors.

Pours a deep black with a slight reddish hue in the bottem of the glass with a light almond colored head that leaves some decent lacing.Aroma is very roasted and nutty with hints of grassy hop.Taste is nice and nutty with a highly roasted malt flare the hop is very noticable as it gos very nicely in the mix with the nuttiness of this beer.A really balanced stout here not a one sided beer here.A real treat to drink.

Appearance  Almost black with a smallish head that went down quickly.

Smell  The aroma is mostly toasted malt, but theres some dark fruit and maybe some hops for balancing in there as well.

Taste  This one is serious. The depth of the burnt malt is very intense  it reminds me of burnt toast. This flavor carries on to the finish. Theres an unidentified hoppy flavor in there, but the dominant toasted malt flavor is deep and everlasting.

Mouthfeel  The light carbonation and the fact that the stout doesnt try to do too much gives it a very smooth texture pass the tongue and cheeks.

Drinkability  This went down really well.

Comments  I tasted this alongside the SN porter for comparison purposes. They are both excellent brews. I liked the smooth and creamy texture of this one most and appreciated the depth of the body as well.

Pours a deep black with some dark brown outlining the glass and the top of the beer. Light-tan colored head which left surprisingly decent lacing along the glass on the way down. Initial nose is sweet, creamy, and milky, backed up with a nice helping of roasted malts - grainy and full of chocolate. Slight bitterness hits the taste buds, along with a nice carbonation snap, but it's quickly rivaled by the sweetness of the malt and the dark, roasted coffee and chocolaty flavor it brings. Creamy, medium body, very smooth on the palette.

Overall, an incredibly enjoyable beer. Sierra Nevada makes some good stuff, and this stout is on the money. So fundamentally sound and simple, just executed beautifully.

A: Very dark brown, almost black. 1 finger tan-colored and rather creamy head.

S: Plenty of dark and roasted malt aromas. Hints of dark fruits. A decent amount of earthy hop aromas as well. Compared to the bottled version it's slightly restrained. It lacks some bigger and fuller aromas.

D: A very good low alcohol stout, but inferior to the bottled version. Compared to the bottled version it has less fruity flavors but interestingly a more pronounced hop character. Most importantly, its body is way lighter.

The SN Stout pours an almost opaque black with deep ruby highlights. It has a frothy clingy tan head that goes to a collar and displays a ton of lacing.

Its aroma is appealing as well - figs, chocolate, roasted malts with some bitter coffee notes.

The flavor is fruity figs, chocolate and vanilla up front, followed by a strong metallic, almost chalky, bitterness that kind of rubs me the wrong way. It is thinner than I would expect yet leaves a sticky bitter residue.

Overall, this is a nice stout. If not for the off finish (to me at least), this would be a great one.

Appearance: A smooth black with leather hues around the edges and a creamy tan head with great retention.

Smell: Rich dark and on the dry side hints of fruit esters and grain aromas with a full earthy hop leaf nose, notes of ripe plum and light molasses are also detected.

Taste: A creamy full bodied brew with a roasted barley bitterness, notes of chocolate and a touch of caramel. High hop bitterness to balance that begins light, turns sharp and slightly tingly, eventually imparting its earthy flavour in the aftertaste and complementing the dry bitterness left from the roasted barley. The aftertaste stays with you for a very long time.

Notes: One of our favourite stouts; a well balanced brew showing both malt and hop complexities without one being the more dominant.

This beer was kind of a dissapointment but it was still better than alot of beers I've had. It poured a great deep brown color with a huge fluffy tan head that gave way to lots of lace down the glass. The smell had lots of roasted malt and coffee scents in it. The taste is what dissapointed me a bit. It tasted a little too "earthy" in my opinion. The hops snuck in and the roasted malt flavors were good but there was just some kind of sour flavor that I got from it that was not too pleasing. Although I did notice that there was a hard ring of yeast or something at the bottom of every bottle of the 6 pack that I drank so this batch could have been a little old. I will mostly likley try it again before I pass final judjement on this beer, but as it is now, I like the Sierra Nevada Porter MUCH better than the stout!